I couldn’t be sure that I’m getting smarter, but this book is very smart. Evidence of Flynn Effect is quite eloquent, but empirically easily questionable, not because the Effect doesn’t exist at all, but because the hypothesis is too gigantic. It surpasses empirical method capacity. Nevertheless, massive gains in IQ show a bright phenomenon that Flynn calls “scientific spectacles”, to stress the development of analytical abstract thinking. I think this is a great discovery. We need to study it better, specially because there are some signs that the effect is disappearing (in some countries, at least). Flynn attributes the effect to environmental causes, what is correct, because evolution cannot produce such rush changes. Investment in education is a good candidate to explain some dimensions of the effect. For our schooling system, literacy must take the challenge to enhance intellectual abstract analytical abilities more seriously, because they, probably, correspond best to our search for opportunities in life and labor.

Wikipedia defines the "Flynn Effect" thus: "The Flynn effect is the substantial and long-sustained increase in intelligence test scores measured in many parts of the world from roughly 1930 to the present day." In this book, James Flynn explores why IQ may be increasing and what the implications are.

Flynn himself explains what his book intends to accomplish (Page 1): "Whatever we are doing, we are making massive IQ gains from one generation to another. . .This book attempts to make sense of what time and place are doing to our minds." This book may be slow going for the novice, but it is an important work, one raising many provocative questions.

The Flynn Effect begins with the determination that as intelligence tests are revised, the standard for average performance (100 is calculated as the average score) are set based on people who take the tests. Over time, IQ scores rise. Even though the average (mean) score on different versions of IQ tests over time is 100, the scores over time need to be recalibrated to keep the mean at 100. So the mean stays the same--but the test takers are "smarter" than their predecessors. In that sense, people have been getting smarter. It is not only in the developed world that IQ gains have been ascertained; in many developing nations, IQ has also increased. To give a sense of how profound the changes have been, take the Netherlands. Compare IQ scores in 1982 with those from 1952. The person who got an average score (in the middle of the range of IQs) in 1982 would have scored higher than 90% of all Dutch in 1952.

Why the increases? Flynn believes that the Industrial Revolution and modernizing industry is a part of the explanation. He even notes that some have suggested that certain video games and computer applications may have sharpened people's minds. In short, events in the environment are key to explaining the increase. Do you argue that TV shows how dopey people actually are? Flynn cites a study showing that TV shows now are much more complex than before. He suggests comparing "I Love Lucy" with "Hill Street Blues." The latter demands much more from an audience as compared to the former. In many respects, life today demands more cognitive complexity from people, and this leads to using their inherent cognitive power at a higher level. An increasingly complex social world is a part of the explanation, then.

Many issues are joined in this book--such as the role of race in the discussion on intelligence, the role of nutrition in increased scores (with a surprising conclusion), the likely closing of the IQ gap between developed and developing nations, the effect of intelligence on violence, and so on.

This is an important book, albeit one that is more academic than easily accessible to non-academic readers. But the effort to understand the work will be richly rewarded.

Great intro into the basics and open questions in the field of intelligence. Flynn's enthusiasm is contagious, and his scientific approach is compelling.

The beginning presented a perspective on the subject that was both wide and novel. What then followed was technical details that would be better apt for a scientific journal. The book added little to my previous knowledge ( I have not worked in this field).

Not a book for the layperson. Apparently I am are not yet smart enough to fully understand all the technical jargon and statistical manipulations he uses throughout the book. If his premise is true, perhaps I'll understand it better next year.

Really good piece of book. Flynn make a very good work, particulary revising theory of men advantage hypotesis. It's strongely recomended literacy.